Cases and Controversies

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer sits down with Bloomberg Law's Matthew S. Schwartz to discuss the Court, executive power, Dobbs, judicial independence, and the rule of law. Reflecting on nearly three decades on the bench — and the perennial question of whether politics shapes when justices choose to retire — he explains how justices make decisions, and why preserving public trust in th...

The Supreme Court term was limited in its blockbusters this year, but the decision to limit the power of lower court judges to issue nationwide injunctions will have the biggest impact, attorneys and legal scholars say. “It affects how cases get litigated in a big way,” said Anastasia Boden, a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian public interest law firm. "I saw someone s...

The Supreme Court closed out its term with a string of rulings that divided the justices. The court split 6-3 along ideological lines in opinions June 27 that limited the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions and gave parents the right to opt their children out of classroom instruction that violates their religious beliefs. Cases and Controversies hosts Kimberly Robinson and Lydi...

Transgender rights suffered a major loss at the US Supreme Court after its opinion in the Skrmetti case. But some advocates for transgender rights found reasons within the opinion to believe their cause might fare better in future cases. Cases and Controversies hosts Kimberly Robinson and Lydia Wheeler get into the details of this opinion on the latest episode of their podcast. They also talk abou...

The Supreme Court is chipping away at the mound of argued cases it has to decide before the justices break for summer. The court has 21 cases left after releasing its latest batch of opinions. Those included a unanimous decision that revived a lawsuit brought by a family against the government after the FBI mistakenly raided their Atlanta home. Disputes over a Tennessee ban on gender affirming car...

The justices have already had a deluge of emergency requests from the Trump administration, and another is likely to land before them soon involving the president's tariffs. Lower courts have temporarily ruled against the tariffs using doctrines recently revived by the Supreme Court's conservative majority to frustrate policies of Democratic administrations. The Trump administration has signaled i...

The Supreme Court's long-awaited order over the president's firing of Democratic members of independent agencies is puzzling, according to the lawyer representing one of the fired individuals. Gupta Wessler founder Deepak Gupta joins Cases and Controversies hosts Kimberly Robinson and Greg Stohr to discuss what the divided court did and did not do in allowing the administration to move forward wit...

The practicalities of birthright citizenship being restricted in some states but not others appeared to be a concern of key justices on the US Supreme Court. President Donald Trump has asked the justices to narrow lower court rulings that blocked his executive order limiting automatic citizenship to babies born with at least one parent who’s a citizen or permanent resident. Cases and Controversies...

The Supreme Court will sit for a special session May 15 to hear a challenge to President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship order. The merits, however, are not before justices at this time. Instead, the court will consider the scope of relief temporarily available to the parties, and in particular whether federal district courts can enjoin a policy nationwide as to all persons affected. Joining...

The Supreme Court heard the last in a trio of cases over religious rights with the justices appearing to split long largely ideological lines. During arguments April 30 in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, the justices considered a virtual school's bid to become the nation's first religious charter school. Cases and Controversies hosts Lydia Wheeler and Kimberly Robinson say the...

US Supreme Court justices spent a lot of time last week discussing the meaning of LGBTQ-themed books that parents in a Maryland public school district say interfere with the religious rearing of their children. One book, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” was a focal point of the April 22 arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The justices questioned whether mere exposure to things a parent disagrees with burdens...

Obamacare is back before the Supreme Court in a challenge to its no-cost coverage requirements for certain preventive health services. The justices will weigh the constitutionality of the US Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends the tests and treatments insurers should cover, when they return to the bench on Monday for the April sitting. If the lower court's decision is upheld, "it is p...

The US Supreme Court's attempt to avoid a confrontation with President Donald Trump has real world costs, said Georgetown Law professor Stephen Vladeck. Vladeck spoke with Cases and Controversies hosts Kimberly Robinson and Greg Stohr about the flurry of recent rulings from the justices in emergency requests involving the administration's policies. The majority of the justices have been careful no...

Supreme Court justices from across the ideological spectrum appeared ready to side with a religious group seeking an unemployment tax exemption, in the first of three church-state disputes on tap in coming weeks. "I thought it was pretty fundamental that we don't treat some religions better than other religions," Justice Elena Kagan said. "And we certainly don't do it based on the content of the r...

The federal government appeared likely to win a high-stakes appeal over a multibillion-dollar telecommunications fund while securing a win on Biden-era regulations on build-at-home "ghost guns." Several justices during arguments March 26 in FCC v. Consumers' Research, appeared hesitant to reinvigorate the so-called nondelegation doctrine to strike down the Universal Service Fund. The fund is inten...

The Supreme Court will consider a case at the end of March that could limit Congress’ ability to let federal regulators determine what public health and safety standards are necessary. Depending on what the court decides, any statute that grants discretion to an agency could be open for re-review, said Jessica Ellsworth, a partner at Hogan Lovells. "There's probably hundreds of thousands of places...

After a slow start, Supreme Court justices will hear consequential disputes as they head into second half of the term. "This might be the eye in the storm that this was kind of a bit of a slower term," said Goodwin partner Brian Burgess. "There's some big, big cases ahead." Burgess highlights cases involving religious rights, Obamacare, and forum shopping with Cases and Controversies hosts Lydia W...

A fight over plans for a privately owned nuclear waste storage facility in Texas seemed to divide the US Supreme Court as the justices wrestled with a federal agency’s regulatory authority and who can challenge it. Cases and Controversies hosts Greg Stohr and Lydia Wheeler unpack Wednesday’s arguments in the dispute over a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license that would have moved as much as 40,0...

The US Supreme Court hears argument March 4 in a case over gun industry protections from lawsuits. The dispute involving Mexico and Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. centers on whether exceptions to the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act open manufacturers to court challenges. Mexico alleges gunmakers intentionally trade with suppliers for drug cartels and the law allows suits when industry k...

The Supreme Court- has been pulled into its first dispute over a Trump administration action with more cases likely coming its way. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris asked the justices in an emergency request to toss out a temporary restraining order that stopped President Donald Trump from firing the head of the US Office of Special Counsel. Lower courts have issued TROs in response to Trump’...

The US Supreme Court is confronting the stark reality that, unlike the other two branches of government, the court has no real power to enforce its decisions. Should someone — whether government official or private citizen — refuse to comply, the justices have no army or constitutional spending power to use as a cudgel, Bloomberg Supreme Court reporter Greg Stohr writes in a new longform essay. Th...

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments in a reverse discrimination case when the justices return to the bench at the end of the month.  A heterosexual woman is asking the court to revive her lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Youth Services where she's worked since 2004 after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said she hadn't shown the "background circumstances" necessary to take...

President Donald Trump’s executive orders have sparked a flurry of legal challenges that tee-up constitutional questions about the breadth of executive power the US Supreme Court may be forced to settle. Daniel Cotter, a partner at Dickinson Wright who writes a column on the Supreme Court for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, joins Cases and Controversies to talk about which disputes could get Supre...

Supreme Court justices seemed to agree courts should look at the totality of circumstances when analyzing whether a police officer's use of deadly force was reasonable. During arguments Wednesday, the US Supreme Court appeared ready to rule the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had used the wrong test when it considered the claims of a mother who argues a Texas police officer unjustly shot...

Several justices on the Supreme Court seemed eager this week to debate the constitutionality of a Texas law that requires porn sites to verify the age of users to keep kids from viewing obscene content online. But the court was only asked in the case argued Wednesday to answer whether the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit applied the correct standard when assessing whether the law violated...